"Huge win for Canadian privacy"

Supreme Court’s historic decision on warrantless
disclosures is huge win for Canadian privacy, means govt’s
Bill C-13 is unconstitutional in current form

Court
ruling vindicates Protect our Privacy Coalition and tens of
thousands of Canadians who had been campaigning against
warrantless disclosure of their private
information

June 13, 2014 – In a landmark decision,
the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled
that telecom providers cannot hand over their customers’
private information to government authorities without a
warrant. The decision has huge implications for Canadians,
hundreds of thousands of whom have seen
their information obtained by the government, without a
warrant, in recent years. It also means that highly
controversial and unpopular warrantless disclosure
provisions in the government’s Online Spying Bill C-13 are
unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously
in R. v. Spencer that Internet users do
have a right to keep their subscriber information private.
The Court ruled that government requests to telecoms to hand
over this information amount to a search and require a
warrant. The ruling means that the widespread practice of government
authorities acquiring Canadians’ private information form
telecom providers without a warrant must now come to an end.
Community-based OpenMedia.ca and the Protect our
Privacy Coalition have been running a sustained campaign
to end warrantless surveillance.

Responding to the
news, OpenMedia.ca Executive Director Steve Anderson, said:
“This is a historic decision that will protect countless
law-abiding Canadians from being unjustly spied on by the
government. Tens of thousands of Canadians have worked tirelessly to raise the alarm
over how this government has been conducting warrantless
surveillance of law-abiding citizens on a massive scale. All
along we’ve said the government’s online spying Bill
C-13 is reckless and irresponsible and today’s ruling
vindicates those concerns. Now the government will finally
have to take heed and withdraw their extreme spying
provisions from their bill.”

In an article on his website, privacy expert
Prof. Michael Geist, said: “The government's plans for
expanded voluntary, warrantless disclosure under Bill C-13
must surely be reformed as it is unconstitutional. Just
yesterday, Conservative MP Bob Dechert relied on R. v. Ward
to support the C-13 approach with respect to immunity for
voluntary disclosure. The court has effectively rejected the
Ward decision and Dechert's defence of the provision no
longer stands.”

Tens of thousands of Canadians have
spoken out against the spying provisions of C-13 at http://OurPrivacy.ca

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